The Scottish Politics thread

[Gabriel]

 

[Kirkstall Blue]

Released without charge

 

[Brewster's millions]

She clearly knew this was coming hence the sudden resignation last month. Talk about a tarnished reputation. Pretty shocking stuff.

It’s shocking in fact that the police needed nearly two years before taking any decisive action, given both the numbers involved and the very strange goings on around the party finances.

Just imagine that the following chain of events had occurred within a normal business environment.

Two-thirds of a million pounds were provided under the condition that the funds would be ring-fenced and only used for a specific future event, rather than the normal day-to-day operations of the business. Bank account details then reveal total funds in the bank of just 97k, with no explanation provided by the CEO as to the whereabouts of the substantial ring-fenced funds. News swiftly follows that a 100k loan had also provided by the CEO in order to ease cash flow issues, with the rules around the disclosure of this loan also having been broken, if not deliberately ignored. Meanwhile the CEO’s continued refusal to provide disclosure around the matter led to the resignation of the company’s Treasurer, with the spouse of the CEO - who also happens to be a person of significance within the company - also refusing to provide any information.

One would have thought that this sort of scenario might have resulted in slightly more expedited response from the police, even before the significant and very obvious public interest within the case is considered. But clearly not. Once again, the boundaries between the FM and the police appear to have become blurred, if they exist at all that is. To put it bluntly, the whole thing stinks to high heaven.

Given that Sturgeon had prior knowledge of the recent turn of events I find it difficult to imagine that anything even vaguely incriminating will have been left in the house, and so for all today’s theatre I wouldn’t expect any charges to follow.

 

[Coatigan]

Released without charge

Gets even stranger.

 

[Churchlawtonblue]

It’s shocking in fact that the police needed nearly two years before taking any decisive action, given both the numbers involved and the very strange goings on around the party finances.

Just imagine that the following chain of events had occurred within a normal business environment.

Two-thirds of a million pounds were provided under the condition that the funds would be ring-fenced and only used for a specific future event, rather than the normal day-to-day operations of the business. Bank account details then reveal total funds in the bank of just 97k, with no explanation provided by the CEO as to the whereabouts of the substantial ring-fenced funds. News swiftly follows that a 100k loan had also provided by the CEO in order to ease cash flow issues, with the rules around the disclosure of this loan also having been broken, if not deliberately ignored. Meanwhile the CEO’s continued refusal to provide disclosure around the matter led to the resignation of the company’s Treasurer, with the spouse of the CEO - who also happens to be a person of significance within the company - also refusing to provide any information.

One would have thought that this sort of scenario might have resulted in slightly more expedited response from the police, even before the significant and very obvious public interest within the case is considered. But clearly not. Once again, the boundaries between the FM and the police appear to have become blurred, if they exist at all that is. To put it bluntly, the whole thing stinks to high heaven.

Given that Sturgeon had prior knowledge of the recent turn of events I find it difficult to imagine that anything even vaguely incriminating will have been left in the house, and so for all today’s theatre I wouldn’t expect any charges to follow.

It's a shame, her legacy will be forever remembered for this shoddy affair.

 

[Coatigan]

It's a shame, her legacy will be forever remembered for this shoddy affair.

Let's see.

 

[Churchlawtonblue]

Let's see.

How do you think this is going to play out, with all that money going missing on her watch?? Regardless of whether any charges are brought it looks pretty poor does it not.

 

[Coatigan]

How do you think this is going to play out, with all that money going missing on her watch?? Regardless of whether any charges are brought it looks pretty poor does it not.

Of course it does.

 

[Coatigan]

It’s shocking in fact that the police needed nearly two years before taking any decisive action, given both the numbers involved and the very strange goings on around the party finances.

Just imagine that the following chain of events had occurred within a normal business environment.

Two-thirds of a million pounds were provided under the condition that the funds would be ring-fenced and only used for a specific future event, rather than the normal day-to-day operations of the business. Bank account details then reveal total funds in the bank of just 97k, with no explanation provided by the CEO as to the whereabouts of the substantial ring-fenced funds. News swiftly follows that a 100k loan had also provided by the CEO in order to ease cash flow issues, with the rules around the disclosure of this loan also having been broken, if not deliberately ignored. Meanwhile the CEO’s continued refusal to provide disclosure around the matter led to the resignation of the company’s Treasurer, with the spouse of the CEO - who also happens to be a person of significance within the company - also refusing to provide any information.

One would have thought that this sort of scenario might have resulted in slightly more expedited response from the police, even before the significant and very obvious public interest within the case is considered. But clearly not. Once again, the boundaries between the FM and the police appear to have become blurred, if they exist at all that is. To put it bluntly, the whole thing stinks to high heaven.

Given that Sturgeon had prior knowledge of the recent turn of events I find it difficult to imagine that anything even vaguely incriminating will have been left in the house, and so for all today’s theatre I wouldn’t expect any charges to follow.

That's not a very good comparison, as those events occur in normal business environments literally all the time. Including at our own club where they are trying to prove accounts are in order against an existing media verdict. 4 years after the investigation was opened, no less, with results also in 'public interest'.

Edit. I'm not trying to argue there's nothing wrong there btw, obviously it looks dodgy as fuck. Just that it was a bad comparison.

 

[Brewster's millions]

That's not a very good comparison, as those events occur in normal business environments literally all the time. Including at our own club where they are trying to prove accounts are in order against an existing media verdict. 4 years after the investigation was opened, no less, with results also in 'public interest'.

Edit. I'm not trying to argue there's nothing wrong there btw, obviously it looks dodgy as fuck. Just that it was a bad comparison.

Point taken regarding the optics, it does look very bad for them.

I would however argue that the reason why the case is so dodgy even within a normal business environment - and why the SNP investigation is different to that surrounding City - relates to the essentially ring-fenced, non-fungible, nature of the 667k provided.

The onus is therefore clearly on Murrell to prove how the 667k - again, distinct from other donations provided to meet day-to-day funding requirements - was used, or indeed where it was moved to if it hasn’t already been spent. The loan provided by Murrell, and importantly the failure to disclose the loan at the time, merely increases the need for an explanation. I would expect that only a very small number of people exercised control over the ring-fenced funds and so I still find it difficult to believe that it would take nearly two years of genuine investigation to determine the facts. Indeed, the manner of the Treasurer’s resignation and the personal loan provided - kept secret at the time of course - suggests that the Murrells may have had sole control.

In City’s case, the club will argue that all of its revenue is fungible from a regulatory perspective, that this revenue has been signed off as such by the auditors, and it’s therefore up to the club how it spends it as long as losses do not exceed a pre-determined amount.

That’s my argument in any case, for what it’s worth. At the very least it’s good to see the communication between Sturgeon and the police facing some scrutiny this morning, as I don’t believe for one moment that she didn’t know the house call was imminent.